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LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research 2022, 19 (1): 120-137 www.universalacademicservices.org Open Access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]

LWATI: A Jour. of Contemp. Res.

ISSN: 1813-222 ©March 2022

RESEARCH

HISTORICIZING AND CONCEPTUALIZING ALBERT

CAMUS'S DUAL PERCEPTION OF WOMEN IN L'ÉTRANGER

AND LE MALENTENDU

Peter Akongfeh Agwu

Department of Modern Languages and Translation Studies,

Faculty of Arts and Humanities,

University of Calabar, Calabar.

agwupeteraakonfe@unical.edu.ng https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1406-3753 and

Tolbert Cerdue Abutu

Department of Modern Languages,

Faculty of Arts and Humanities,

Federal University, Lafia, Nassarawa State, Nigeria

Email: tolbertabutu@gmail.com

Abstract

Several studies have been published on the recurring themes of death, revolt, and the absurdity of life in Albert Camus's literary works. These works mostly refer to ambiguity or contradiction regarding some of his celebrating it to its fullness and his ambiguous attitudes towards the concept of death comes to mind. But little literature has been recorded of his mindset towards women. This study explores the evolution of Camus's multiple notions about women. It is an attempt to evaluate the ambiguity of perception inherent in his literary creation regarding his relationship with women. Camus's opus indicates that loving" at a distance" offers some advantages to men in pursuit of idealistic goals in life. An affirmation of the above statement is the blend of allegiance and disconnection which characterized Camus's relationship with his mother. Using Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic theory, the study posits that the through Meurseult and Jan, demonstrates lingering challenges of human existence and a critical post-modern account of the absurdity of human condition. The study maintains that Camus's loyalty and detachment 121
LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research 2022, 19 (1): 120-137 www.universalacademicservices.org Open Access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]

LWATI: A Jour. of Contemp. Res.

ISSN: 1813-222 ©March 2022

RESEARCH

from women can be regarded as the paradigm of the rapport between man and society. This study's endgame is to, first, expose new perspective in , and then fill in the lacuna as well as to indicate a field of research of broader value in French literature. Key Words: Philosophy of the Absurd, Dual perception, Albert Camus, Le

Malentendu, French literature

Introduction

Albert Camus, who discovered his literary voice in his youth, spent the rest of his career philosophizing. His arsenal of literary imagery about the universe in which he lived often left his audience with ambiguous conclusions. Camus believed after the two World Wars and their horror effects that the world is meaningless, absurd, and indifferent to the plight of the individual. He further maintained that in the face of this indifference, the individual must revolt against the absurdity and uphold traditional human values, though he lived in self-fulfillment and in recognition of his sense of himself as a man. These attributes are majorly measured in accordance with what he could give to others and what these colleagues, friends and lovers could in turn offer man. This notion of "reciprocity" informs the numerous ambiguous gestures Camus manifested throughout his life. Eventually, these exhibitions came to distinguish Camus's sense and style of the artist's place in the postmodern society. In Le Mythe de Sisyphe (1942), Camus declares that Whether we kill ourselves or others or failing that, whether we kill whatever is human in us, such as our contradictory emotions and sexual needs, this truth requires that we logically incorporate this one and only reality into our lives to the fullest extent possible, to become ourselves part of that death force. No doubt, this citation validates Camus's double standard when his goal was to be a man "privé d'avenir" in Le Mythe de Sisyphe(1942) but in a different light declares in his Essai (1965) that "There is no valid life 122
LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research 2022, 19 (1): 120-137 www.universalacademicservices.org Open Access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]

LWATI: A Jour. of Contemp. Res.

ISSN: 1813-222 ©March 2022

RESEARCH

without projection into the future, without promise of maturation and progress" (331). Further exhibition of Camus's double perception is manifested in La Chute (1960) where he started the unfinished autobiographical novel with a woman at the verge of giving birth, thereby creating an unusual impression of giving a woman her real status in his work. The dramatic twist came when Camus presented a community of men in Le Mythe de Sisyphe (1942). In La Peste (1947), except for Rieux's wife and mother, there is an almost complete absence of female characters in the novel. Rieux's wife was eventually sent away to a sanatorium. He later pleaded to his wife for forgiveness for his negligence of her. Clamence, in La Chute (1956), not taking into account his social status as a lawyer, made mockery of orphans and exploited their nativity. But deep down, he unconsciously expressed his most anxious desire to be a father. His description of women is that of a dehumanized appendage of his male ego which leaves critics with the belief that the woman in Paris Bridge was killed. Tagging it "suicide" may have been Clamence's style in denying the responsibility for his female victims. Judging by these logical paradigms, one can understand why Camus's admirers have never ceased to enquire if he wanted to portray a womanless universe or a society of dehumanized women, thereby leaving his lovers emotionally dead or in extreme depression. But Camus, in Le Mythe de Sisyphe (1942), admits that Don Juan was lost in abstraction and advised that "loving all the women depersonalizes and dematerializes the real world" ( 243). It is based on this notion that we seek to explore the evolution of Camus's multifaceted thoughts about women. This study is an attempt to further evaluate the ambiguity of perception inherent in Camus's literary creation regarding his relationship with women. This study adopts the Psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund to analyze the disorienting or fluctuating limits in Camus's characters manifested through Meursault in L'Étranger (1942) and Jan in The Le Malentendu (1943), demonstrate lingering challenges of human existence and a critical post-modern account of the challenges of man in the society. We maintain that Camus's loyalty and detachment from women also indicates the divorce between man and his society. 123
LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research 2022, 19 (1): 120-137 www.universalacademicservices.org Open Access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons License [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]

LWATI: A Jour. of Contemp. Res.

ISSN: 1813-222 ©March 2022

RESEARCH

Alwith women and discourse

It is obvious that the Philosophy of the Absurd is well cited and is often evoked in relation to Albert Camus. Critics have analyzed his well- articulated theory from diverse angles. Some link his hostility against Communism as an "absurd reasoning". While others consider his consistent representation of violence, rebellion and suicide, and as well as his little faith on rationalism as an exhibition of his notion of the absurd. Scholars have also made interesting contributions to importance of love in Camus's work. Anthony Rizzuto (1997), offers a provocative reading

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